New garden to flood the senses

A milestone event in the ongoing flood recovery has happened in Numurkah with today's opening of the new sensory garden at Karinya Residential Aged Care, just over a year after floodwaters forced residents to evacuate.

While the floods did not inundate the buildings at Karinya, the surrounding gardens were destroyed by the deluge.

During the recovery process, the idea of a sensory garden was born according to Numurkah District Health Services CEO Jacque Phillips.

"It's about creating an environment with different experiences for people, about reaching out to people's senses," she said.

"So when you look around this garden you'll see different heights of plants, different textures, different colours, different places that people can actually sit.

"We really need to acknowledge that people may have spent a lot of their years gardening and enjoying the outdoor area, this gives that back to them."

Marj Porter, a member of the volunteer committee that worked on the project, says financial help from the Royal Horticultural Society of Victoria was backed up by community support and input from Karinya's residents as well.

"We had a request from one of the residents 'have you got a camelia?' and I said we'll put it there so he can see it out his window," said Marj.